With Dylan Raiola set as Nebraska starting quarterback, history predicts five-star true freshman's production (2024)

Freshman year stats: 44-for-82 (53.7%) | 485 Yards | 4 TD | 3 INT | 14 Carries | 23 Yards

So much has been made of Jaden Rashada's career off the field that college football fans might have already forgotten he was Arizona State's opening-day starter last year. The two-time transfer, now a backup at Georgia, remains in the middle of a lawsuit against Florida over an NIL agreement that never came to fruition and might get more attention for that in 2024 than he does for his play with the Bulldogs, which looks to be slim with Carson Beck leading the offense. The former top-50 recruit shined in Week 1 last season when he passed for 236 yards and two touchdowns against Southern Utah but missed the vast majority of the year due to injury.

Freshman year stats: 141-for-257 (54.9%) | 1,881 Yards | 13 TD | 13 INT | 120 Carries | 492 Yards | 6 TD

A promising freshman season was the career highlight for Jeff Sims, who in the years since fell into a part-time starting role at Nebraska and backup spot at Arizona State. A thrill that 2020 season was, though, for the Georgia Tech freshman, who became the first Yellow Jacket true freshman quarterback to ever win a season opener with his victory over Florida State. Turnover struggles limited him even during that exciting debut campaign, though, and ultimately cost him spots in the starting lineup at his next two schools.

Freshman year stats: 259-for-422 (61.2%) | 3,641 Yards | 38 TD | 7 INT | 94 Carries | 35 Yards | 1 TD

Sam Howell is the example of a true freshman quarterback's ceiling. The former North Carolina star set the FBS true freshman and UNC school records for touchdown passes with his 38 scoring strikes in 2019, and he ranked 14th nationally among all quarterbacks, not just freshmen, with 3,641 passing yards. The eventual fifth-round NFL Draft pick left Chapel Hill as the Tar Heels' school record holder in essentially every major statistic for a quarterback.

Freshman year stats: 205-for-388 (52.8%) | 2,943 Yards | 17 TD | 2 INT | 125 Carries | 355 Yards | 3 TD

The Washington Commanders named Jayden Daniels their Week 1 starter, which means he will be in rare company as a quarterback to start his first college game as a freshman and first NFL game as a rookie. Before his strides at LSU led him to the 2023 Heisman Trophy, Daniels got a running start at Arizona State, where he became the first Sun Devil freshman quarterback to start a season opener. He displayed all kinds of upside as a dual-threat weapon during that debut campaign when he set the school record for fewest interceptions (two) on 300 or more passing attempts.

Freshman year stats: 217-for-377 (57.6%) | 2,542 Yards | 16 TD | 6 INT | 97 Carries | 313 Yards | 7 TD

Bo Nix became the second 2023 Heisman Trophy finalist to earn a Week 1 NFL starting job this week and is in lockstep with Jayden Daniels from a career trajectory standpoint. Nix also opened his college football career with a start in his very first game, and it was a memorable one at that. The Auburn legacy signal-caller spearheaded a comeback win over Oregon (his future team) in the 2019 opener and rolled to an SEC Freshman of the Year honor at the end of his best season with the Tigers, which also saw him beat Alabama in a thrilling 48-45 Iron Bowl.

Freshman year stats: 216-for-363 (59.5%) | 2,672 Yards | 14 TD | 10 INT | 45 Carries | -149 Yards

USC had quite the run of young quarterbacks towards the end of the Clay Helton era, and JT Daniels was, at the time, the most exciting signal-caller of the bunch — which also included present college football veterans Jaxson Dart and Kedon Slovis. The Trojans missed a bowl game with Daniels under center as a true freshman, and after he lost his starting job, he never quite panned out as the elite weapon his five-star recruit status suggested he could be. He medically retired last winter after the best year of his career, which came at his fourth school.

Freshman year stats: 224-for-347 (64.6%) | 2,617 Yards | 17 TD | 9 INT | 140 Carries | 629 Yards | 8 TD

Adrian Martinez was Nebraska's starter for every full season of the Scott Frost era. It was a tremendously disappointing stretch for the Huskers as a whole, even though Martinez showed some flashes as one of the nation's top running quarterbacks. Martinez's passing touchdowns and rushing yards in his freshman season ended up as career-best marks, even including his one year at Kansas State. His turnover troubles were the only real knock against his debut campaign, and unfortunately for the Huskers, they proved to be a staple of his game throughout four years with the program.

Freshman year stats: 161-for-291 (55.3%) | 1,984 Yards | 16 TD | 8 INT | 108 Carries | 275 Yards | 2 TD

The 16 touchdowns Sam Hartman threw in his freshman season jump started his campaign to become the ACC's all-time touchdown leader — a title he eventually claimed after he posted 39 scores in 2021 and 38 more in 2022. Wake Forest made him the first freshman to start a season opener in school history during a debut campaign that came with some growing pains but also hinted towards the greatness that was to come. Hartman opened his career with 31 completions for 358 yards in a monster debut against Tulane and led all freshmen in total offense through his first three games.

Freshman year stats: 236-for-391 (60.4%) | 2,958 Yards | 21 TD | 11 INT | 96 Carries | 161 Yards | 2 TD

Texas was "back" for a brief moment in 2016 when Shane Buechele looked like the answer one game into his career. The Longhorns' second true freshman to start at quarterback logged 280 yards and a pair of touchdowns in a double-overtime thriller against Notre Dame in the 2016 opener, but the magic wore off as Texas limped to five wins and missed a bowl game. While he passed Colt McCoy later that year for the most passing yards by a freshman in school history, injuries derailed his sophom*ore campaign and ultimately cost him the starting job before he finished his career in strong fashion at SMU.

Freshman year stats: 292-for-487 (60.0%) | 3,670 Yards | 23 TD | 11 INT | 37 Carries | 15 Yards | 2 TD

Josh Rosen earned the "Chosen Rosen" moniker with a quick ascent to the starting job and immediate success as UCLA's quarterback. The five-star recruit had the chance to be a program-defining player, and while the Bruins never lived up to their high hopes as a team during his reign over the offense, he did turn in a couple of great seasons and earned a first-round NFL Draft selection. Rosen's freshman and junior seasons were essentially carbon copies while he missed half of the 2016 campaign due to injury.

Freshman year stats: 233-for-369 (63.1%) | 2,955 Yards | 16 TD | 10 INT | 65 Carries | 35 Yards | 1 TD

Jake Browning was one of the last of his kind — that is, a four-year college football starting quarterback at one school. While early departures for the draft and late-career transfers define many veteran starters' careers in the modern era, Browning called the shots for Washington over four highly productive years and left the program as its career leader in numerous departments. His 43-touchdown sophom*ore year, in which the Huskies advanced to the College Football Playoff, was the highlight of Browning's career, but his freshman season was about as good as the rest of them.

Freshman year stats: 221-for-378 (58.5%) | 3,198 Yards | 26 TD | 12 INT | 27 Carries | -131 Yards | 1 TD

Across just three years, Brad Kaaya set the Miami career passing record and posted the third-most touchdowns of any Hurricane quarterback, and his quick start as a standout freshman was integral to his rise to the top of the program's leaderboard. The ACC Rookie of the Year led the conference in touchdowns and cracked the 3,000-yard mark for the first of three-straight seasons and put himself on the fast track to a sixth-round NFL Draft selection.